The present invention relates to product identification and information tags for merchandise suspended from horizontally-extending support hooks, and the like. More particularly, the invention relates to such tags which are easily attached to and removed from support hooks without being subject to inadvertent removal, and which display product information forwardly of the supported merchandise.
In my aforesaid U.S. patents, I disclose a merchandise information display tag formed from a plastic sheet which displays product information forwardly of items suspended from a horizontally-extending hook. The tag has a mounting portion by which it is secured to the proximal end of the hook, a distal or display portion which folds down over the distal end of the hook, and an intermediate portion which extends horizontally between the mounting and display portions above the hook and the suspended merchandise items. The mounting portions of the tags disclosed in the aforesaid patents are configured to engage the proximal ends of various support hooks designed to be suspended on an apertured board. Such mounting portions are designed to be easily deployed on and removed from the support hook but cannot be inadvertently removed or fall from the hook once the display tag has been deployed.
I have found that the display tags disclosed in my aforesaid patents are not optimally suited for mounting on certain types of support hooks which are suspended from structures other than an apertured board. For example, luncheon meat packages in supermarkets are generally suspended from hooks which have their proximal ends mounted on an angle iron support. The angle iron support opens upwardly and the support hook has its proximal end extending through and supported by apertures in the respective limbs of the angle iron support. The mounting portions of display tags in accordance with the aforesaid patents are not configured for mounting on a support hook-angle iron support assembly of this nature. However, the parent application discloses display tags having mounting portions which are particularly adapted to this purpose. Broadly stated, the mounting portions of the display tags according to the parent application comprise at least two (2) panels which can be folded transversely to conform to the angle between the respective limbs of the angle iron support. The panels have respective apertures on the center line of the tag and a cut extending between the apertures along the center line and across a transverse fold line forming a junction between the panels. This construction allows the mounting portion to be press-fitted into engagement with the proximal portion of the support hook located within the angle iron support. In one preferred form of the invention disclosed in the parent application, the mounting portions comprises four (4) in-line panels which are folded into a triangular depending wedge with the last panel underlying the first panel, the two (2) intermediate panels forming downwardly inclined diverging limbs of the wedge, the fold line between these two (2) panels forming the apex of the wedge, and the apertures and cut bridging the apex. The first and last panels are connected by aligned push-down tabs scored therein to stabilize the wedge.
Another form of support hook for which display tags having mounting portions disclosed in the aforesaid patents are not optimally suited is a hook which forms part of a display assembly commonly used for displaying brooms and mops and associated suspended card-type hardware such as brushes, sponges, scrubbing utensils, and like cleaning items. A display assembly of this type commonly comprises a vertical ladder rack-type support and brackets each including a pair of laterally spaced elongate support hooks for attachment to the vertical support. Typically, the vertical support is of a welded wire rod-type construction with laterally spaced uprights, each comprising a front rod and a back rod, and laterally extending vertically spaced ladder rods between the uprights, the end portions of the ladder rods being captivally welded between the front and back rods of the respective uprights. Each bracket comprises an upper lateral rod welded across the top of the support hooks, and a lower forwardly spaced lateral rod welded across the bottom of the support hooks. A bracket can be manipulated into engagement with the ladder rack support so that the hooks are supported cantilever-wise from the ladder rack on one of the lader rods adjacent the respective uprights, with the upper lateral rod of the bracket engaging the back of the uprights and the lower lateral rod of the bracket engaging the front of the uprights. In use, brooms or mops are stood vertically on end betweent the hooks, and carded hardward items are suspended from the hooks.
It is a particular object of the present invention to provide a merchandise display tag of the general character described above, which has a mounting portion suitable for attachment of the tag in a stabilized manner to the proximal ends of support hooks attached to ladder rack supports of the type described, to enable product information to be displayed forwardly of the hooks in like manner to the arrangements disclosed in my aforesaid patents and patent applications.